It Is Raining Winners at Garage48 GreenTech Tallinn 2015

Garage48 GreenTech Tallinn 2015 has been unique in many ways – not only is it our 40th event and our 2nd time to be in the wonderful premises of Tehnopol Startup Incubator – we are now certain that great ideas will indeed find skillful people! This event is about impact, it is about how much you want to make the world a better place. The jury will make decisions, but it in the end it is all about to You and your team.

On Friday someone asked Ragnar Sass: "How many teams will finish?" We have great news: all teams have finished and made it to the final! As we started off on Friday with 35 ideas pitched and 130 participants, the 19 teams and 116 participants on Sunday are proof that though not all will make it to the end, the dream and passion is still strong!

The idea and talks to organise a hackathon specifically to develop new solutions and new technologies for the environment and climate sector, started already a year ago with the Ministry of the Environment of Estonia. Maarika Susi, the Head Organiser of the event has worked hard on bringing together the environment professionals with a list of specialists ranging from designers to marketers to project managers and IT programmers.

The evening started off with a warm greeting from the Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of the Environment Mr Meelis Münt, who has been following the event on social media channels the whole weekend. He believes that three working days can really make an impact and it is possible to deliver unbelievable quality in such short period of time.

Jörgen Talkop, the Head of the Climate Department at Ministry of the Environment and Jury member at Garage48 GreenTech also states: "The challenges in the environment and climate sector are huge, meaning that in order to overcome them we need lots of innovation and different thinking. In this situation, green technology may be the first key solutions provider for Estonia. To carry out the changes, we need innovation and new solutions for which Garage48 is a logical platform, as it has a prolonged history with new initiatives."

As finding solutions for the environmental impact is so crucial, we have also other companies and institutions to thank for the meaningful cooperation. The Estonian Development Fund for the ongoing support and trust in the work of Garage48. PlanetOS for providing us with data sets and mentoring. Microsoft for giving us technical support and comprehensive know-how. The US Embassy in Tallinn for helping to bring world-class mentors to Garage48 and for being a friend as well. And once again a big THANK YOU to the Ministry of the Environment for the mission-triggered work and openness.

We also want to thank Elise Sass, who has helped all of the team leaders to practice their pitches for the final demo and being a mentor to all of the teams as well. "This Garage48 was
another example how to bring together tech people and experts from different
industries - environmental specialists.
And if you give a finger to this world it takes your whole hand - and you are immediately part of the world of
making difference together with technology. It was great to
see how many ideas were pitched and products build that will affect all of us
in our daily lives. I am sure that in next similar events we will see even more
complicated solutions that will change the world," said Elise of the exceptional event.

Though the teams have been successful 100% thanks to their own skills and teamwork, we want to thank all the mentors, who have tried to guide the 19 teams and give away some secret tricks up their sleeves as well.

Finding the best of the best is a hard job and as we emphasised - the decisions of the jury mean nothing without the ongoing hard work, long after the event itself. So a BIG THANK YOU to our jury members:

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